Finlays Acquires Autocrat, Broadens North American Business

James Finlay Limited announced that it has bought, through its wholly owned subsidiary James Finlay International Inc., 100 percent of the share capital of Autocrat, LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Finlays operates in all parts of the tea supply chain and brings ‘bush to cup’ tea knowledge in leaf tea procurement, product development and innovation. Autocrat is a leader in coffee extracts and offers customer focused market solutions using the highest quality natural ingredients. It is a supplier of coffee extracts used to flavor products for some of the foremost companies in the food, beverage and dairy industries.

“This acquisition demonstrates our willingness to invest in businesses that can help fuel profitable growth and broaden our existing tea extracts business in North America. Finlays is already a major player in the U.K. roast and ground coffee market and there are some obvious synergies between tea and coffee extracts around customers and product development,” said Ron Mathison, Finlays Group managing director, in a prepared statement. “The U.S. market is an exciting area for Finlays and we are looking forward to putting more emphasis on our operations here. The acquisition will double the size of our business in the U.S., giving us greater scale and access to new channels. Entering the coffee extracts market is a natural extension for our own tea extracts business providing excellent opportunities for growth.”